India, Japan partnership holds immense potential to de-risk global economy: Jaishankar
New Delhi (PTI): India and Japan on Friday agreed to ramp up cooperation in areas of trade, critical minerals, defence and high technologies with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar saying that the partnership between the two sides holds immense potential to de-risk the global economy.
A meeting between Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi saw both sides agreeing to set up a joint working group on critical minerals and a dialogue mechanism on artificial intelligence.
The Japanese foreign minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his talks with Jaishankar.
"Our special strategic and global partnership is on an upward trajectory and holds immense potential for shaping the world order and de-risking the international economy," Jaishankar said on social media after the 18th India-Japan strategic dialogue.
He said the discussions on boosting cooperation in areas of economy supply chain, critical minerals, technology and people-to-people connections were reflective of "shared interests" between the two sides.
"Also had a useful exchange of perspectives on Indo-Pacific and regional and global developments," he said.
Toshihiro Kitamura, a spokesperson at the Japan foreign ministry said Jaishankar and Motegi deliberated extensively on various global issues to align their views and discussed the importance of Quad.
Kitamura said extensive deliberations were held on ensuring economic security in view of the current geopolitical developments, adding the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group on critical minerals.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Jaishankar and Motegi underlined the importance of further strengthening the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.
The two ministers launched the AI dialogue to give a fresh push to bilateral cooperation in this sector.
Both sides also decided to convene a joint working group on critical minerals under the economic security initiative to advance our collaboration in rare earths and other critical minerals, he said.
In his televised opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar said India's vision for the Indo-Pacific aligns closely with Japan's outlook for a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific'.
"We are leading democracies, we are the major economies of the world, and we have today not just an opportunity, but also an obligation, a duty to shape the global order," he said.
"And in the current uncertain global situation, it's even more important that we work closely towards shared strategic goals," he added.
Jaishankar noted that economic security has become very important in the current global context.
"I think both our countries attach enormous importance to it, and how to de-risk our own economies, and how to de-risk the international economy are both very important." "So, we will be discussing resilient supply chains, critical minerals, how to address energy, health, and maritime security in our talks today," he added.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
